For centuries, mountain ranges have served as one of the most formidable obstacles for mankind. They are a transportation nightmare for anyone in the business of moving goods or people: you either had to wind your way through them, which was a slow, time consuming, and dangerous process, or else go around them, which could take you hundreds or even thousands of miles out of your way.

Modern technology has solved the problem of mountain ranges, however, in the form of road tunnels: rather than go over or around the mountain, you simply blow a hole right through it and build your road there. Road tunnels are a vital piece of transportation infrastructure, saving travelers countless hours and allowing for the passage of heavy commercial traffic which would otherwise have been unable to traverse the mountains. However, we as commuters tend to overlook tunnels, with few people truly appreciating the immense amount of effort and resources needed to carve out these shortcuts through the mountains, such as the Mont Blanc Tunnel.

When it opened to traffic in 1965, the Mont Blanc was both the longest and the deepest road tunnel ever built. Stretching over 11.5 kilometers under Europe’s highest mountain, the tunnel has served as a vital link between France and Italy, at one point carrying as much as one third of Italy’s commercial traffic to the rest of the continent. Unfortunately, it also showcased how dangerous tunnels like this can be, when a disaster in 1999 claimed more than three dozen lives.

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